Seventh Period- Marketed Messages
8/16/23, 3rd day of school
First Period: Ms. Vanessa Cruz- English
Vanessa felt hopelessly lost, more than she had ever felt in her entire life. She was beginning to regret leaving her former life as an actuary. She had received 4 weeks of intensive training in the inner-city teacher corps. with a classroom filled with compliant 3rd graders, but a lack of positions had led to her placement as a 7th grade math teacher at Bon Grandeur Middle School. BG had a reputation. When she mentioned her placement to her tía Raquel she was met with an extended gasp, and some words of wisdom from the old country:
“Mi cielito! El necio es astrevido y el sabio comedido.”
Vanessa was beginning to feel like the fool. The first 2 days of school had been fine. She had been assigned a mentor during new teacher training, and his advice to her seemed to have worked for the first two days at least.
“Don’t smile until November kid. Just let them know who’s boss, and be firm in your words and actions at all times.” stated Reg Thomas, her mentor.
She didn’t feel comfortable with this advice, and while she was a little under 5 feet it irked her to be belittled by being called “kid.”
She would meet her true mentor on the second day of school when she was nearly disciplined for being in the wrong hallway during lunch. Vanessa was bringing her lunch back to her room with her back turned when she heard a calm voice:
“Excuse me. You can not be in the hallway during…”
Vanessa turned around and faced her accuser. His cheeks immediately turned a bright shade of red. She recognized Jeff from a professional development session he had given the prior week. He apologized more than once, and they ended up eating lunch together chit chatting about life as a teacher.
Her new friend had a peculiar habit of spending most of his prep periods in other teacher’s rooms, and it was today that he had decided to pay her class his first visit. He just happened to be sitting in a seat in the middle of the classroom with a big sheepish grin on his face when Vanessa first started to feel lost:
“Okay everyone, I spent last night creating a seating chart. I’d like everyone to stand up and go to the back of the room and I will call you up to sit in the correct seat.” She stated sternly.
She heard a few grumbles and observed some pushing and shoving as the students and Jeff stood up and all moved to the back of the room. She pointed to the first desk in the front
“Portia, you will sit here.” She stated.
Portia rolled her eyes, grunted, and zombie walked over to the desk. She slammed herself and her books down on the desk.
“Miss why do I have to be in the front?” Portia whined.
“Cause you know you need babysat.” Yelled Javari sarcastically from the back.
Without missing a beat, and without turning around..
Portia shot back: “At least I’m not a dumbass like you.”
Ms. Cruz was lost in thought at this point. She didn’t know how to react. The rest of the class burst into laughter, and the noise would have drowned out any attempts to calm the class down. She was certain Jeff a.k.a. Mr. Mac would do something, but he stood in the back silently looking across the sea of laughing middle school faces. His face seemed made of stone, betraying no emotion. In her state of panic she did the only thing she could think of: just move on. She pointed to the seat next to Portia and announced the next name:
“Canyon.”
“Oh miss NOOOO!” erupted Portia as she buried her face down on the desk attempting to hide from reality.
Canyon looked angry. Vanessa was worried that he would refuse the placement, but instead he moved as fast as he could with his head down to the seat next to Portia and sat down. Both Portia and Canyon turned in opposite directions with a huff
Moving quickly to the next student on the list, Fabian Rodriguez-Manzana, she pointed to desk 3 and said Fabian’s full name. This put into action events that the entire class would not soon forget. Fabian started moving towards chair 3. However, partway to chair 3 he failed to see a backpack under his feet and his legs fell out from under him. As Fabian’s out of control upper torso made contact with the floor an unmistakable sound filled the room.
“Eeewwww” screeched several students in unison.
Looking back on it later Vanessa would reflect that she should have reacted differently, but at this point her decision-making faculties were questionable at best.
“Fabian, I will be calling your parents after class. Get in your seat!”
Fabian was clearly mortified with what had just happened, but not wanting to argue with his teacher this early in the year, he got up quickly and darted to his seat where he spent the rest of the period with his head down. Only Ms. Cruz would mentally note that this would be the last day Fabian was in attendance at BGMS. Rumors later circulated that he had spent the next couple of weeks skipping school and hanging out at the local McDonalds. He was eventually picked up by a truancy officer. His parents later moved him to a new school across town, and slowly the legend of “Fabian the Farter” faded into BGMS lore.
At the end of the period Jeff came up to her and handed her a handwritten note. He thanked her generically for being in her room, and took off to teach his second period class. The note celebrated that she had a seating chart by the 3rd day, and he invited her to his classroom during her prep which happened to be 7th period. She was curious, and decided to take him up on his offer later that day.
2nd Period Mr. Thomas, Math
It was day 3 of school, and day 3 of teaching math. Mr. Thomas detested the first weeks of school. Every year the assistant principal Frank Ferris would insist that he spend the first week of class teaching student’s expectation, rules, procedures. That moron McAlpine spent a whole 2 weeks wasting time in his classroom. All Frank needed was to raise his voice, project his authority, and most kids would do what he said. The kids that didn’t he had a 3-prong plan he lovingly referred to as his own Individualized Education Plan or IEP: Isolate, Embarrass, Punish. Some of these kids shouldn’t even be allowed to go to school, and Reg wanted to make sure that they knew it. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, it was just that he cared more about the kids that cared. It wasn’t his job to motivate, only to teach. He wasn’t going to put on a show to get them to learn. He wasn’t a juggling clown.
Kids needed to respect his authority and the chain of command. This had been instilled in Reg from an early age. Captain Thomas Sr. had died in a helicopter crash during his second tour in Iraq, but up until this time his dad had set a regimented schedule lovingly referred to as regs for Reg. If Reg failed to follow his schedule or got out of line his dad would belittle him, beat him, and he would spend the rest of that day locked in his room. It was firm, and it felt unfair, but it made Reg the person that he was today. It served Reg well through his own tour of duty in the army, and it continued to serve him well as a teacher. Most of his students would respond to isolation, embarrassment, and punishment. He didn’t have time for that soft, warm, fuzzy stuff.
Math was not a soft subject and it was why he liked teaching it so much. However, he could tell that second period was going to be one of those periods. A few of his students could be and would be trouble. Canyon Reed was on his list but so far hadn’t stood out at all. He could tell that Hector was going to be an issue. He was one of those squirrely kids that lacked discipline and focus. The two students he worried about the most were Melissa Garcia and Perla Robles. Both had tested very low on his preassessment, and he could tell why.
Neither Melissa nor Perla could stop their mouths from running. He had yelled at them several times already, and had decided that it was time for to start implementing IEP. The next question in the textbook was rather difficult. Melissa and Perla were whispering during his explanation, and so Mr. Thomas decided it was time.
“Melissa, stand up!”
Melissa stood up slowly. Her face resembled a deer in headlights.
“Tell the class how to solve the next problem in the textbook.”
Melissa was frozen. Her amygdala was in overdrive. The emotional fear center of the brain is activated by body language and tone of voice. If aggression is sensed the amygdala activates. The first thing the amygdala does is to send the signal for the cognitive thinking parts of the brain to shut down. The body prepares to fight, flee, or freeze. Melissa froze. She was unable to think, unable to process, unable to respond.
“Use your words, tell us how. Solve the problem. Can you? This is easy math Melissa. This is 4th grade math.”
Melissa turned red and dropped her face to the ground. She could hear her classmates whispering and snickering egged on by Mr. Thomas’s goading. She was flooded with feelings of embarrassment and inadequacy.
“In this classroom you MUST learn! If you are talking you will be cold called. So you must pay attention. Sit down and pay attention Ms. Garcia.” Stated Mr. Thomas.
Melissa sunk into the back of her chair. Math was not her favorite subject to begin with, and this single event would stand out as a causal factor for her future math phobia. Mr. Thomas’s voice would forever be in her head telling her that math was easy, and therefore, she was dumb.
7th Period: Mr. Jeff McAlpine (Mr. Mac)- Science
Vanessa arrived 10 minutes after the 7th period bell. She loved how comfortable and inviting Jeff’s classroom was. The institutional white lighting was turned off in favor of a series of softer lights around the room. This seemed to create a calmer environment. The room was stationed off into sections and the walls were immaculately decorated. Calming music played in the background. Students were silent and focused on a “getting to know you” packet. Jeff was walking around the classroom, pausing, and reading responses over the shoulders of students with a clipboard in his hands. Occasionally, he would stop, write a little bit, and continue on.
Vanessa found a seat and sat down in the back of the classroom. She wasn’t sure why she was invited to watch Mr. McAlpine’s students silently working. She watched Jeff moving around the classroom intentionally, and started to notice something seemed wrong in her peripheral vision. Mr. McAlpine’s seat of his pants were stained brown. She wasn’t the only one noticing. A few of Mr. Mac’s students were starting to point and make faces at each other. She heard a familiar giggling and saw Portia pointing and laughing. Jeff didn’t seem to notice at all. She was starting to wonder at her choice of friend when the whole situation became even more comical.
Jeff made his way near the front of the classroom and caught his foot on the floor rug. It was a spectacular fall. His shoulder hit the nearest table with a thud, and he sprawled out on the floor.
Some of the class started laughing loudly. There were a few students that looked concerned, and a girl that Vanessa recognized as Sarah Harris approached Mr. Mac’s still form on the floor.
“Are you okay Mr. Mac.” Sarah Inquired.
Jeff got up off the floor. Insisted that he was okay and started to walk around the classroom again. He didn’t even acknowledge what had happened! Vanessa couldn’t help but think back to poor Favian in her first period today. At least Jeff hadn’t farted. However, she had spoken too soon.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, I ate something bad for breakfast. I’m just not feeling great right now. I farted. I hope it doesn’t smell too bad.”
Excuse me, thought Vanessa. Did he really just say that loud enough for his students to hear. Melissa wrinkled up her face with a look of disgust. The boys surrounding her including Canyon started laughing uncontrollably. Once on the other side of the room he repeated himself!
“Oh, I am so sorry. I farted. I hope it doesn’t stink. My stomach is really bothering me today.”
The class was no longer focused. Students were whispering, giggling, staring. A strange sense of excitement was building in the room. The teacher was out of control and the students weren’t sure how to react. The situation didn’t feel out of control like in Vanessa’s room, and she couldn’t quite place why. The source of craziness was the teacher and not the students. She was about to go get ahold of someone in the office when she caught what she thought was a quick wink from Jeff out of the corner of her eye. He must have sensed her concern. All of a sudden Mr. McAlpine stopped, made a disgusting retching movement, and ran over to the trash can in the corner of the room. Vanessa felt sick to her stomach as he threw up a chunky white substance into the trash can.
“Ewwww, grosss, yuck, oh my god, oh no!” came from all directions at once.
Almost all of the students were now talking loudly with each other making sideway glances at their obviously infirm science teacher. A few had looks of concern, but most were obviously upset. The events of the last 5 minutes were absolutely unbelievable for all in the classroom.
Just as quickly as they began, they ended. Mr. Mac seemed to change his demeanor at once. He straightened up exuding authority. He marched to the front of the room, squared up making himself tall.
He said with authority. “In this class there is no EMB.”
“What do you think EMB means? Shout it out.”
Many students were looking around confused, but a few had caught on and started to grin. Mr. Mac was a strange teacher, but he certainly did know how to keep students on the edge of their seat.
Canyon confidently called out, “Embarrassment.”
“DON’T SAY THAT WORD!” Mr. Mac scolded comically.
“We protect others from that feeling of ember…EMB” stated Mr. Mac, “We don’t even say the word. In this classroom there is no EMB! In this class there is no EMB! In this class there is no….”
Mr. Mac extended his hands outwards giving the signal to shout out and most of the class shouted back
“EMB!”
“Let’s try that again, remember norm 4 participation is expected and required. In this class there is NO…”
“EMB!” shouted the entire class this time.
“Let me tell you a story.” He stated as he propped himself up on the front lab table. “During this story I need you to be seeing in your head what I am saying. I need you sitting in college bound positions as we discussed yesterday, and that includes nodding heads and thinking deeply about what is being said.”
Vanessa was impressed by how he stopped before the story and set the expectations so clearly. She was curious what he meant by college bound positions and decided she would ask him later.
Mr. Mac began the story. “When I had just started teaching there was a very shy girl named Ari. Now Ari was very worried about what other people thought about her. However, I knew that Ari, just like all of you, could get over her EMB. So I invited her to join our student council. By eighth grade Ari felt comfortable speaking in front of people, and in fact, she became the student council president of her eighth-grade class. Back when I ran student council the president of the 8th grade class would run the assemblies. Well it was during Ari’s first assembly that she was walking across the gym to talk into the microphone.” Unfortunately, the cord to the microphone was in her way, and she didn’t notice. She full on tripped over the cord and fell down in front of the entire student body.
As Jeff said this he got up from the table and acted out the scenario.
“All 1000 students watched as she fell. What made it even worse was that Ari’s shirt caught on the microphone stand and ripped open in front of everyone. Every teacher, every administrator, every student. The gym filled with students erupted in laughter. They pointed. They made disgusted faces at her. They were merciless.
The students were on the edge of their seat at this point. Vanessa had studied theater in school, and she noted the theatrical methods Jeff was using to ensure interest in the story. He was using lively gestures, showing emotions as he told them, moving quickly at times and slowly at others. He would talk quickly and then slow down. It really was masterfully rehearsed story telling.
“What did she do!” blurted Portia.
“Well, I didn’t see her at school for months. I tried to calm her down, but she was very upset. Her parents called the next day saying that Ari had gone home and stayed in her room for 3 days straight crying. On the fourth day she tried to hurt herself.”
Several students gasped.
“You see when we are talking about the EMB sometimes it can cause us to do things that we know we shouldn’t do. Sometimes it really can be life and death… Ari is fine now, she is in college studying to be a doctor, so don’t worry about her. However, I’d like you all to think about yourselves. If you were in the gym that day would you have laughed? How many of you want to be the reason that someone goes home and hurts themselves?”
Several kids were shaking their heads.
“Well, let’s think back to what just happened in this room.”
A few astute students realized where Mr. Mac was going and groaned.
“What happened first that could have caused me EMB?”
“You tripped.” Stated Melissa standing and pointing to where he tripped.
“Almost.” Said Mr. Mac tilting his head to the side. “Something else happened first.”
Canyon raised his hand.
“Just shout out Canyon. What do you think.”
“Man, your butt, I mean your pants are all messed up!”
“Exactly, and I saw a few students pointing and laughing. That could have caused me EMB.”
Canyon and a few other students shook their heads looking around at each other. Vanessa could tell that there was some real remorse in this gesture.
“IN THIS CLASS THERE’S NO!”
“EMB!” They all shouted in unison.
“Okay what happened next.”
“Then you tripped.” Stated Melissa correcting her first mistake.
“Exactly! And wow did I hear a lot of gasps, and groans and laughter. You know what the worst thing was. When I looked up it was your body language that caused the most EMB. The looks you had on your faces made me feel horrible. We need to be careful with both the noises we make but also with our body language. One thing happened that I want to point out. One person in the room said something that made me feel much better. Who was it?”
“Sarah.” A lot of voices stated at once.
“Sarah, thank you so much for caring so much about me. I’m certain that we can all learn from the way you helped me out. You took away a lot of my EMB.”
Vanessa expected Sarah to turn red, but instead she donned the biggest smile Vanessa had ever seen. She was starting to see the magic of no EMB take hold. It was as if Mr. Mac’s students had gained permission to ignore the feelings of inadequacy that they secretly held inside of themselves. Vanessa self-reflected. She was guilty of feeling the EMB (part of her couldn’t believe she was buying in to this) when Mr. Mac was watching her teach. She suddenly felt a whole lot more comfortable about Jeff being in her classroom. She was on the edge of her seat to see where he took this next.
“What else might you say to someone to prevent the EMB? Let’s do a rally-robin, person A will start. What else might you say to someone to prevent the EMB? Think time…………GO!”
Immediately students started sharing ideas. Vanessa noticed A and B labels on the tables and she watched in amazement as 100% of Jeff’s students started sharing. A talked first, then B talked, then A talked. It didn’t stop. Mr. Mac walked around the classroom listening in to the responses with a smile on his face.
Mr. Mac held up his hand and within a matter of moments the class was silently listening again.
“So after I fell two more things happened. What was the first?”
“You farted” shouted Walt.
A few students started to giggle a little bit, but then stopped immediately, catching themselves in mid-laugh.
“Some of you can’t even hear the word without laughing. Can you imagine what it would feel like if you released methane, like we all do by the way, and people laughed and pointed? Do you want to be responsible for someone not coming to school because of EMB? Do you want to make someone cry? No. That’s not why we laugh, but that could be the result. IN THIS CLASS THERE’S NO!”
“EMB!” They shouted.
“Finally, I threw up in the trash can. Now I didn’t really throw up. It was just cottage cheese, but you should have seen your faces. I wanted to shrink into the corner. Is it possible that someone this year might be sick and throw up?”
Students nodded their heads in unison.
“So why would you want to make someone that is already feeling sick feel even worse! Once again, we all need to learn a lesson from Sarah today. When someone is sick we do everything we can to help them feel better because in this class there’s no…”
“emb” They stated calmly this time, mirroring Mr. Mac’s call out.
“So let’s stop and process a little bit. We are going to do a timed pair share just like we practiced yesterday. You are each going to have 1 minute to tell your partner what you are going to do to ensure there is no EMB spread at school this year. Please remember if they finish early or haven’t thought of something to say you must ask questions to try to get them to talk. B will go first this time. The question is: what are you going to do to ensure there is no EMB spread at school this year. Think time……….GO!”
All but a few students started sharing responses, but it seemed that Mr. Mac knew just where to go to help some students start sharing. A quick minute went by.
Mr. Mac stated. “Tell your partner: that was a great response.”
In unison the students all did as was asked.
“Okay, switch.” Commanded Mr. Mac.
Partner A began immediately. At the end he had partner B tell partner A that their response was wonderful. Vanessa couldn’t believe that the students who had earlier insulted each other in her classroom were saying nice things to each other on cue with a smile. There was something about the culture that Mr. Mac was creating that she needed to learn.
“Okay everyone, so that’s only one side to the EMB story. You see some EMB can be good and healthy for you. While we don’t want to cause EMB in others sometimes we cause EMB for ourselves. Are you all ready for the second story?”
“Yes!” Many students claimed. They were hooked.
“So back in 8th grade I had my very first crush. Her name was Suzy Fetty, and she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. She had this amazing red hair, and beautiful green eyes. I worshipped the ground she walked on. Now, while some of you are thinking yuck, others might be thinking what I was thinking at the time: just ask her out. Well, I couldn’t do it. I had caused so much EMB inside of myself that I couldn’t ask her out. One time I got up the nerve to call her but when she answered I just hung up the phone right away. Keep in mind this was before cell phones so she didn’t know I was calling. Yes, I’m old. I just kept picturing in my head her saying no and telling me that I smelled and telling me to go away. Well, I never asked her out, and eventually she started to date a good friend of mine Mike. I was of course devastated, but the EMB had control of me. It wouldn’t let go. Suzy and I eventually became friends. We could never date as she was with Mike. In fact, she would later marry Mike and they are together to this day with 3 kids. One really interesting thing occurred my senior year. We used to sign each other’s yearbooks and I had Suzy sign mine. Here is what she wrote:
“Jeffie-poo, I had the biggest crush on you our freshmen year. I’m so glad we are still friends after all these years. P.S. Don’t tell Mike I said that ??”
The class groaned.
“Exactly! She had a crush on me to at the same time. If I had just asked her out she would have said yes. I pictured all these horrible things happening. Now to be clear, since this time I have asked people out and been turned down quite a few times. Guess what! I survived. I got over it, and I was much stronger. It impacted me less the next time. I am now happily married with children of my own.”
Many students were nodding along with the story understanding its message.
“Now, this is not dating class! But we can apply this to who we are now. There are a lot of things I am going to ask you to do in class this year that could cause EMB. I am going to have you share in class. I am going to have us stand up and move around in class. We may even be dancing in class this year or pretending to be animals this year. You may even be in front of the class presenting this year. Some of you will have the honor to teach an entire lesson this year. Notice how each of these things can cause some healthy EMB. I don’t want you to miss out on some really great things in life. Learning to speak in front of people and deal with that healthy EMB is something that can change the rest of your life. Ultimately, that is my goal. I want you to know more and be more than I ever dreamed of being when I was your age. So, when we share we stand proudly and we shout out our answers. We don’t hesitate. We stand quickly, and we share proudly with no EMB. In this class we will learn that wrong answers should not cause EMB. In fact, they should be celebrated as they are a chance for us to learn. We make mistakes. If you accidently make a face or laugh out loud we will simply remind each other that there’s no EMB”
The class seemed calm at this point and seemed to have accepted the message that Mr. Mac had been selling. He really did seem to be a sales person for one of the most unique messages Vanessa had ever heard used in a classroom.
“Okay, let’s stop and process. We are going to do a stop and jot in our journals. The question we will be responding to is on the slide. We will take 3 minutes to answer this question: What are some situations that I have been in where I felt the healthy EMB? When we are done we are going to have a few students practice healthy EMB today. They will come up to the front of the room and read what they wrote. As an audience we will do everything we can to not cause any EMB. Okay, everyone should be writing on my signal. Please follow norm number 3 and follow my directions and procedures quickly. Okay, writing in 3,2,1, GO.”
Immediately all 36 students in Mr. Mac’s seventh period started writing silently. At this point Vanessa went up to Jeff, thanked him, and asked if they could talk after school. She had forgotten to submit her attendance rosters and rushed off to correct her mistake.
After school: Jeff & Vanessa
They met in Jeff’s classroom after all of the students had left for the day. Vanessa began the discussion:
“So I don’t get it. That wasn’t a rule. It wasn’t an expectation. I don’t even know what to call it. It was definitely incredible, and I’m thinking of my first period class now and how that would have helped so much. So what was it? What were you doing.”
“Great questions.” Stated Jeff, “I call it a marketed message. You see a lot of teachers like to give kids advice. However, it all tends to be boring, folksy wisdom that doesn’t appeal to kids and most of the time the teacher varies the message so much that there’s no clear learning. Students can’t handle this. They get lost in all of the different stories and life lessons that they are bombarded with from every class and every teacher. Sometimes the advice conflicts directly with what another teacher says. It’s all a big mess. Well, as teachers we should really take some advice from advertisers. If I say “Just for the taste of it…” you automatically think “diet coke”. Advertisers know how to take a message and make it stick. With commercials they tell stories that we can relate to so that their product sticks in our head. When you go to the store if you have to choose between diet coke and other unknown sodas we pick the one with the sticky jingle that we remember. Thus, no EMB fits that criteria. First, it is a short slogan or chant that can be repeated over and over again. Next, it can be supported with a few great personal stories. I have only two stories for EMB and I will refer back to those stories multiple times throughout the year. Keep in mind that story 1 is only partially true. I have manufactured it just like a commercial to appeal to students and really stick in their brain. I promise you at the end of the year I could ask students about Ari and they would be able to tell me the details of that story. Third, the message itself is sticky. It’s something you have never heard before, so it tends to stick in your memory forever. Tying the marketed message to a real or simulated event such as your teacher falling over, farting, and throwing up in a trash can can also have a lasting impact on students.
In fact, my first year of teaching I had a student, Cydnee, that loved my class and loved the no EMB. I happened to run in to her 6 years later at a high school event. She ran up to me all excited and said that she had continued to follow the no EMB throughout her middle school and high school experience. She had been shy before 6th grade, and after a year of the no EMB she tried out for everything, she became more outgoing in her classes, and she became her student class president for 4 years in a row. She was busy applying to Stanford her number 1 college choice. She gave me a great big hug and thanked me for how I had changed her life. I didn’t know way back when what an impact marketing a consistent sticky message could have on a student’s life.
So when crafting a marketed message start by thinking about the behaviors you want to promote in your students or think about the behaviors you want to stop in students. Next, come up with a unique sticky slogan that you could attached to this behavioral change. I have also found that identifying your 1 or 2 associated stories first can help you form this sticky slogan. The next step is to make that message come alive in your classroom. Post it and use it as much as possible. I use no EMB almost every day for many different situations. If a student is going to share out loud I remind them of the no EMB. If students are going to sit in a new seating chart, I remind them of not causing EMB in those they will be sitting next to. It’s a useful tool that I have in my toolbox as a teacher. No EMB is just one of several marketed messages that I sell all year long. You heard me mention college bound behaviors. This is another one I can tell you about another time if you are interested.”
“So, do you ever punish or reward kids for no EMB?” asked Vanessa.
“You know, I’m not going to punish my students for something that adults have a problem with. Think about today for you. Were there any adults that caused you EMB?”
“I was actually just thinking about that. I forgot to turn in my attendance rosters. It’s my first year and I feel like I’m drowning. The look on the face of the attendance registrar made me feel insignificant and small when I finally turned them in.”
“Exactly,” stated Jeff. “The world I am trying to create in my classroom is a better world than the one that exists for us as adults. I call it an oasis. I’m trying to create a world for students that I think they deserve. In fact, it is the world I think we all deserve. I have used no EMB with students from 4th grade up to 12th. It works the same for all. I’ve never tried it with adults. Maybe one day.”
“So Jeff do you think my first period is a lost cause after today?”
“Vanessa, there are no lost causes. You have a passion for teaching, you love it, you are even here talking to me now. The only bad teacher is the teacher that doesn’t constantly try new things and grow in new ways. When I started teaching I was eaten alive. Worse things happened to me in a classroom. Maybe one day I will tell you about them, but for now let’s sit down and see if we can design some marketed messages to change the behaviors in your classroom. You and your students deserve to spend their time in a classroom oasis. Let’s meet again tomorrow to give this a try.”
